The thoroughness of the netting makes me think this is not meant to be temporary.
Bah. Can't they build / maintain anything right in AK?
Its not as permanent looking as it is. They simply sunk some large wooden posts in the ground, drilled a hole to attach the cross beams with a single bold, stained the whole thing, and threw up some netting. If an experience construction crew was hired, like perhaps those who do decks and stuff, then you could do it in a day or two, like on those home improvement shows.
This structure shouldn't be left up more than the summer as rain WILL start rotting away/warping the wood due to the the lack of rain protection, and given that it looks like they only used a single bolt to support the 2x6's . . . to have this thing up a year would be wrong, at least in Florida's weather.
Some of the boards look like they are just nailed in, you could probably climb up there and kick one of them out . . .
The branch that fell weight about 5 lbs . . . would that net stop something weighing 50 lbs from that height?
They should have shut it down until after inspections were over AND repairs were done.
Given that the TOL apparently hasn't had a major refurb, I bet water got in somewhere and did some damage. Even for concrete on rebar/steel structures, you've got to paint them to prevent corrosion of both the concrete and the steel.
I bet that the branch didn't just break off all at once, I bet it was weakened and hanging by a thread for months, or even years. They probably don't even inspect it properly.
